Angels' confidence survives challenging stretch

Aug. 8, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Kendrys Morales of the Angels is congratulated by Mark Trumbo, right, and Alberto Callaspo after Morales hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning against the Oakand Athletics. THEARON W. HENDERSON, GETTY IMAGES

Kendrys Morales of the Angels is congratulated by Mark Trumbo, right, and Alberto Callaspo after Morales hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning against the Oakand Athletics. THEARON W. HENDERSON, GETTY IMAGES

OAKLAND – Like piling the family into one of those old wood-paneled station wagons, the Angels' summer has been hot and sweaty at times, punctuated by the occasional breakdown and certainly challenging.

With Wednesday's loss in Oakland, the Angels completed a 45-game stretch of their schedule during which they played 42 games against teams with winning records. Since June 18, only the Kansas City Royals (in Anaheim July 23-25) were under .500 when they faced the Angels. The Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays are under .500 now but had winning records when they played the Angels a little over a month ago.

"You're right. We might. But right now, we're just playing baseball," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said when it was suggested the recent stretch might go a long way toward determining the outcome of the Angels' season.

"I don't really look at the schedule and say, 'Gosh, this is an easy road trip. This is a tough road trip.' You have a Major League Baseball game tonight. It's going to be a tough game. I don't care if you're playing a team that's above .500 or below .500. There's going to be a tough game. You have to focus on how you're playing the game. Not what the road trip is about, where teams are that you're playing."

Playing the best teams the American League has to offer — and a couple from the National League (San Francisco Giants and Dodgers) — in that stretch, the Angels went 23-22 (11-15 since the All-Star break).

By some measures, it's a respectable enough record considering the level of competition and the challenge of playing the top teams in the American League in their stadiums. But it left them trailing the Texas Rangers by three games more than when they started (now seven games back) and unable to consolidate the hold on a wild-card spot they had at times.

"I think it's good we've held on our own, especially on the road on this trip," Angels right-hander Dan Haren said of the 10-game swing that took them to face two division leaders (the Rangers and Chicago White Sox) plus a team coming off the hottest month the AL has seen in 10 years (A's).

"It just seems like every game is going to be so important from now on. Every game is going to be the most important game of the year. There are so many teams in it that it's hard to even scoreboard watch because there's too much to keep track of. If we lose to Oakland, it seems like we lose ground to five or six teams. But if we win, we gain ground not just on that team but two or three other teams as well. It just makes every game mean so much."

Surviving the toughest chunk of their schedule does have its rewards. Twenty-six of the past 45 games were on the road, including a pair of three-city trips. Twenty-nine of the final 50 will be at home and only 12 will be played outside of the Pacific time zone.

With the Boston Red Sox sitting just under .500 through Wednesday, the Angels' final 50 games will be evenly spread between teams with winning records (26) and teams under .500 (24).

"For us, we could have done better," Angels veteran Torii Hunter said of surviving the most difficult portion of the schedule. "We didn't gain any ground. But I definitely think it wasn't bad."

Angels veteran Chris Iannetta echoed that, saying the Angels' position coming out of the 45-game stretch was "not as good as we could be." But he offered a five-game deficit — or less, of course — at the start of September as a target.

"The good thing is, as a team, we're not satisfied," Iannetta said. "This has been a rough stretch. Day in day out, we've been facing good pitching, facing good teams. That's tough, but that's baseball.

"The good thing is in this clubhouse we have guys who've been on teams that have come from behind. Look at Albert (Pujols) — nobody was talking about the Cardinals at this time last year and they went on to win it all. So many things can happen in baseball. It's such a long season and it's real tough to go wire-to-wire (in first place)."

NOTES

Reliever Jordan Walden threw in the bullpen before Wednesday's game, the final step before he joins Triple-A Salt Lake for a minor league injury-rehabilitation assignment this weekend. He is scheduled to make his first appearance Saturday. Walden has not pitched since the All-Star break because of a biceps strain and loss of arm strength from a neck issue. He could be ready to rejoin the Angels early next week. ... The Angels will not use Thursday's off day to skip right-hander Ervin Santana in the rotation. He will start Friday against the Seattle Mariners, followed by Haren on Saturday and Jered Weaver on Sunday. "I think Ervin definitely pitched well enough to stay in the rotation," Scioscia said earlier this week. "He pitched well in Texas, pitched well in Chicago. So hopefully he's turned that corner. ... He's in the rotation."

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